Hands up for trustees in North Yorkshire

The campaign aims to match volunteers in North Yorkshire looking for trustee positions with charities and not-for-profits looking for skills-based and experienced trustees

The campaign will register volunteers and host organisations, and provide mutual opportunities to recruit, develop, and sustain trustees. The aim is to increase the number and diversity of trustees in North Yorkshire.

‘Here at Community First Yorkshire, we’ve noticed that the number of skills-based and experienced volunteers looking for trustee roles is on the increase. There are currently over one million trustees in the UK looking for a host organisation. However, the latest National Trustee Survey has identified that over 40 per cent of organisations say they have found it harder to recruit trustees in the past two years.

‘By working with Reach Volunteering through the campaign, we aim to register and match trustees and organisations so that more experienced volunteers can find opportunities where they can use their skills to help their communities.

‘Trustees are the people in charge of charities,” explains Mark. ‘They share ultimate responsibility for governing them and directing how they are managed and run. Good governance in charities is fundamental to their success.

‘Research with trustees carried out in 2016 shows that 50 per cent of respondents have only been trustees for three years or less, so there is a clear need for training, and sharing good practice. Community First Yorkshire is offering a number of networking and support activities for volunteers and charities.’

Janet Thorne, Chief Executive of Reach Volunteering, says ‘We are delighted to be working with Community First Yorkshire to recruit more trustees to local charities in North Yorkshire.

‘It is essential that a board of trustees has a wide mix of skills and experience so that it can provide good leadership for its charity. Boards do sometimes say that they find it hard to recruit new trustees, but there are many people out there with valuable expertise who are willing to become trustees. Research shows that the vast majority of trustees find the experience really rewarding, so it’s a win-win.

‘By working with Community First Yorkshire we can combine Reach’s online platform and our national partnerships (for example with LinkedIn) with Community First’s local knowledge, relationships and services to create a more valuable service to local charities.’

The Hands Up for Trustees campaign launches a recruitment survey on 14 November for North Yorkshire charities to tell Community First Yorkshire about their experience of recruiting trustees and what roles they are looking to fill in 2018.